Competition: “Me” or “Us”?

Just a very quick blog this morning as a thought struck me – a thought about the nature of competition in our society. Each of us feels the universe revolves around “me” … or should anyway. From our individual perspective, everything begins and ends with myself. Me. So when we compete for things, we put the “me” first. That’s true whether competing for attention in a group, or for a new job, or a parking space at the grocery store. To most of us, competition means getting mine for me and me alone. But there’s another approach that may work better for us, individually and as a society. Competition that lifts everyone involved. I was recalling what Paul McCartney once said about his backstage songwriting competition with John Lennon when they worked so closely together composing those classic tunes for the Beatles. “John would go off and write ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and then I’d go write ‘Penny Lane.” In other words, the achievements of one of them inspired the other to greater achievement too. And back and forth it went with them, leaving us with some of the greatest popular songs ever penned. They even put both their names on all their songs precisely to avoid igniting an unhealthy competition between them. Competition can be viewed as a friendly effort to get the most out of “us,” rather than a destructive battle just for “me.” That was my morning thought and I wanted to share it with my friends at The Humanity Project – which is about teaching individuals to take practical action for the betterment of both humanity and themselves. “Us.” Have a great day! :-)